Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Application Of Tree-Structured Regression For Regional Precipitation Prediction Using General Circulation Model Output, Xiangshang Li, David J. Sailor

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study presents a tree-structured regression (TSR) method to relate daily precipitation with a variety of free-atmosphere variables. Historical data were used to identify distinct weather patterns associated with differing types of precipitation events. Models were developed using 67% of the data for training and the remaining data for model validation. Seasonal models were built for each of 2 US sites: San Francisco, California, and San Antonio, Texas. The average correlation between observed and simulated daily precipitation data series is 0.75 for the training set and 0.68 for the validation set. Relative humidity was found to be the dominant variable …

A New Autonomous Underwater Vehicle For Imaging Research, C. Roman, O. Pizarro, R. Eustice, H. Singh

Christopher N. Roman

Currently, unmanned underwater vehicles either tend to be cumbersome and complex to run, or operationally simple, but not quite suitable platforms for deep water imaging. This paper presents an alternative design in the form of a new low cost and easier to use autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for imaging research. The objective of the vehicle is to serve as a readily available and operationally simple tool that allows rapid testing of imaging algorithms in areas such as photomosaicking, 3D image reconstruction from a single camera, image based navigation, and multi-sensor fusion of bathymetry and optical data. These are all current …

Advanced Atmospheric Water Vapor Dial Detection System, Tamer Refaat

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Measurement of atmospheric water vapor is very important for understanding the Earth's climate and water cycle. The remote sensing Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique is a powerful method to perform such measurement from aircraft and space. This thesis describes a new advanced detection system, which incorporates major improvements regarding sensitivity and size. These improvements include a low noise advanced avalanche photodiode detector, a custom analog circuit, a 14-bit digitizer, a microcontroller for on board averaging and finally a fast computer interface.

This thesis describes the design and validation of this new water vapor DIAL detection system which was integrated onto …

Advances In Fusion Of High Resolution Underwater Optical And Acoustic Data, H. Singh, C. Roman, L. Whitcomb, D. Yoerger

Christopher N. Roman

We report efforts to merge data from the complementary modalities of optical and acoustic sensing for obtaining more accurate representations of the seafloor. We show that the principal obstacles to merging the acoustic and optical imaging modalities are the distortions inherent to each modality. The construction of geometrically accurate photomosaics is dominated by incremental errors arising as individual images are scaled and warped to form the photomosaic. For microbathymetric mapping, principal errors arise from sensor position and orientation calibration parameters that affect our ability to construct maps from sonar data that are commensurate with sensor and navigation resolution. We show …

An Intelligent User Interface To Support Air Force Weather Product Generation And Automated Metrics, Darryl N. Leon

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force pilots require dependable weather reports so they may avoid unsafe flying conditions. In order to better gauge the accuracy of its weather products, Air Force Weather has established the requirement for an Air Force-wide automated weather metrics program. Under the guidelines for this program, forecasts will automatically be compared to observed weather to determine their accuracy. Statistics will be collected in the hopes of determining forecast error trends that can be corrected through education and training. In order for the statistical data produced by such a program to draw reliable conclusions about forecast accuracy, however, the correct format …

Data Warehouse Techniques To Support Global On-Demand Weather Forecast Metrics, Meriellen C. Joga

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force pilots and other operators make crucial mission planning decisions based on weather forecasts; therefore, the ability to forecast the weather accurately is a critical issue to Air Force Weather (AFW) and its customers. The goal of this research is to provide Air Force Weather with a methodology to automate statistical data analysis for the purpose of providing on-demand metrics. A data warehousing methodology is developed and applied to the weather metrics problem in order to present an option that will facilitate on-demand metrics. On-line analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining solutions are also discussed.

Crop Updates 2000 Cereals - Part 3, Roslyn Jettner, Blakely Paynter, Glen Mcdonald, Pierre Fievez, Ian Foster, David Tennant, Wal Anderson, James Ridsdill-Smith, Celia Pavri, Ross Chapman, Senthold Asseng, Steve Carr, Brad Nutt, Lindrea Latham, Roger Jones, Anyou Liu, Clinton Revell, David Ferris, Roy Latta, Lisa-Jane Blacklow, Chris Matthews, Ted Woodburn, Paul Yeoh, Ian Rose, Anita Lyons, Simon Cook, Matthew L. Adams, Robert J. Corner

Crop Updates

This session covers eighteen papers from different authors:

BARLEY AND OAT AGRONOMY

1. Unicorn barley must meet malting specifications to be a viable option, Roslyn Jettnerand Blakely Paynter, Agriculture Western Australia

2. Optimum oat seed rates, Glenn McDonald, Agriculture Western Australia

3. Production and Quality of export Oaten Hay (1998 and 1989), Pierre Fievez, Pierre Fievez and Associates

FROST

4. Climatology of Frost in Southern Western Australia, Ian Foster, Agriculture Western Australia

5. Flowering calculator, David Tennant, Agriculture Western Australia

6. Some options for managing the risk of frost damage, Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia

PASTURE

7. …

Emergency Response Canadian Pacific Railway Canadian Main Line, Barry A. Palynchuk Phd, Michael J. Loehr, Robert W. Badger, Robert P. Conroy, Clive H. Mackay

Barry A. Palynchuk PhD

In late June 1998, a major storm event occurred in the Adirondack Mountains in the vicinity of Keeseville, New York about 150 miles north of Albany. This storm resulted in unprecedented damage to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Canadian Mainline along the shores of Lake Champlain. The storm caused 14 major embankment failures and washouts, numerous minor failures, severe bridge foundation scour and a major mainline derailment.

Soapbox: The Academic Research Fleet: An Exciting Time For Renewal, Larry Atkinson

CCPO Publications

(First Paragraph) Academic research ships in the United States are the envy of many scientists around the world. A great strength of our system is the diversity of ships and operators: users have a choice, the system can change. A weakness of the system is that very diversity: sometimes it is hard for us to act together. Nevertheless, we now must act together. The vitality of the academic fleet in the coming decades is at stake. The reason is simply because many of our ships, especially in the intermediate size range, will soon reach the end of their useful life.

The Maine Shore And The Army Corps: A Tale Of Two Harbors, Wells And Saco, Maine, Joseph Kelley, Walter Anderson

Maine Policy Review

By discussing the problems of beach erosion and sand movement at Wells and Saco, Maine, Joseph Kelley and Walter Anderson demonstrate how single-minded, engineering approaches to complex, interdisciplinary coastal issues can create bigger problems than previously existed. As Kelley and Anderson explain, at both Wells and Camp Ellis, the Army Corps of Engineers was brought in to construct a harbor at no local cost to the community. This was accomplished by constructing jetties, and the result has been a persistent and serious problem of beach erosion. Over the years, the Army Corps has offered further technical solutions that have served …